A report from CTV BC this week has put the spotlight on Health Care in the province and in the Northwest in particular, with the province wide News service noting of a recent Northern Health memo that outlined the plan in place towards health care this month at the Smithers Hospital.
The Memo obtained by CTV BC outlines the instructions offered to physicians and nurses at the Bulkley Valley hospital towards any period of time when no physicians may be available for duty at the facility.
The Memo titled "No physician BVDH ER Coverage Mitigation Plan" seemingly addresses the worse case scenario of no doctors on shift with the advice to nursing staff to "provide comfort measures and some first aid…or phone 911 if the person presenting is in immediate medical distress.”
The full CTV BC story and the pertinent portion of the memo which you can review here, provides further background on some of the challenges facing Northern Health.
It also highlights the concerns from the BC Nurses Union towards the level of guidance that was offered to their membership.
It's not clear if the "call 911 option" was required during the period in question.
The only comment from Northern Health related to the Smithers situation is included as part of the CTV Story.
It notes that the shifts in question had been covered in the end and that the emergency department had remained open. Northern Health also spoke to the issue of recruitment and retention of health care staff as part of their response.
Northern Health's own communication process both regional and specific to Smithers has relayed no information towards the Bulkley Valley situation.
Northern Health has used its social media feed to provide for general advice during the summer period of service interruptions, however, no indication of the plan as noted by CTV was ever relayed to the public during that period.
Many of those service interruptions took place in Kitimat over the summer, periods of time which saw that Emergency Department service closed, in order to provide coverage for the Terrace hospital.
A situation that has been raised as a concern by the District of Kitimat.
The CTV BC report is the kind of thing that Opposition Parties can make much use of and the Smithers concerns as well as a similar story from Nanaimo earlier this month have certainly been on the radar for the BC United party.
The challenges facing health care, particularly that of rural health care are sure to make for one of the key talking points for the opposition parties once the Legislature resumes later this fall.
For now, the NDP government likely is hoping that the rest of the summer doesn't deliver more headlines that suggest that the current plan is not enough to secure proper health care for those outside of the larger centres.
The North Coast Review has put in a request for comment on the CTV BC story and the situation in the Northwest with North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice's Legislature office, a request for comment that has since been forwarded to the Ministry of Health.
Ms. Rice who serves as the Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Health, likely should have something to say about the ongoing service concerns in the region.
So far, however, no statement related to the Northwest situation has been offered up and the MLA has not made any mention of the news story on her social media stream.
The CTV report likewise hasn't as of yet caught the attention of Stikine MLA Nathan Cullen.
We'll follow up on our notes, should the MLA or Northern Health provide for more background towards the current situation in the region.
More items of interest on Health Care in the Northwest can be explored through our archive page.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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